(Replying to PARENT post)

>With this pilot, some stations are now accessible to Non-Tesla EV drivers in selected countries via the Tesla app

Why should it be necessary to install software in order to fuel a vehicle? What benefit exists for the consumer?

I have noticed this as a trend in physical services, I was asked by a grocery store to install software prior to purchasing groceries, however they were gracious after I declined, and permitted me to purchase groceries using only my debit card.

πŸ‘€i_am_proteusπŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

I'd wager it's the same reason they're getting rid of parking pay booths and parking meters - it's a hell of a lot cheaper for people to install your app and pay through that, than installing traditional payment options. Why would you pay for the debit/credit terminal, then the monthly fee to connect it to the internet? If people want to use your service so badly they'll install your app.
πŸ‘€FractalParadigmπŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

It’s only necessary if your car isn’t designed to identify itself automatically to the Tesla network.

Tesla drivers don’t need to go through the app to charge. They just plug in.

You can also charge elsewhere such as at home. Most public charging stations I’ve seen (I’m in the US) do not have credit card readers and therefore require either a car that identifies itself, or an app.

πŸ‘€natchπŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

> Why should it be necessary to install software in order to fuel a vehicle? What benefit exists for the consumer?

As far as gas pumps and chargers, less chance of the interface being vandalized? In Tesla's case, I would imagine it is more an easy adaptation to current infrastructure without major changes to the chargers themselves.

πŸ‘€meragrin_πŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

> Why should it be necessary to install software in order to fuel a vehicle? What benefit exists for the consumer?

In this particular case, it's because Tesla superchargers aren't point of sale terminals. They don't have a display or any means of interacting with the user beyond grabbing the plug connector and sticking it into a car.

That's a feature, not a bug. People who haven't actually supercharged a Tesla imagine this service to be like pulling into a gas station, and it's really not.

πŸ‘€ajrossπŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

It's not necessary for regular charging poles, but you do need some way to identify yourself. Using an app is a bit more environmentally friendly than mailing out loads of plastic cards. Personally I don't know why chargepoles don't just support chip and pin, at least in Europe - almost all parking places here do now.
πŸ‘€davedxπŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

> Why should it be necessary to install software in order to fuel a vehicle? What benefit exists for the consumer?

It's a pilot.

But, IMO, we should require ordinary credit/debit card access to high-speed chargers. Every time I use a Supercharger, I spend around $10 bucks, so there's no need to work around credit card fees.

πŸ‘€gwbas1cπŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Well, one part of the charging problem they're trying to solve is getting cars in and out of slots quickly to increase overall capacity. For the existing Tesla owners in the US, there's virtually zero auth/payment overhead: they already have Tesla accounts and it identifies the car, so you just drive up and plug in and get billed. They also charge idle fees ($0.50/min if there are open slots, $1/min if the whole station is full) for occupying slots unproductively.

I imagine they could have added some kind of reliable payment-card reader, maybe. But then you're dealing with a whole other level of things like people trying 3 different cards until they get one to work and burning time, possible fraud, skimming, etc. You also have new hardware and failure modes in the charger itself (the reader, the screen, the buttons, etc), whereas right now they're featureless, just a tall plastic thing with a charge cable on it, and it's charging to a known card pre-registered in the account.

It seems a reasonable tradeoff (at least in the US, to me, at this point in the industry's evolution) to stick with the system they've got for simplicity and speed, and ask for a Tesla app install. The only other open charging network I've tried in the US (Chargepoint) also needs an app install and account.

πŸ‘€ff317πŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

> Why should it be necessary to install software in order to fuel a vehicle?

You're right, it shouldn't be necessary. It should be as easy to Supercharge any EV as it is a Tesla. There's a standard called Plug & Charge that makes exactly that possible, but most EVs don't support it yet, so the app is the temporary solution until they do.

πŸ‘€josephcsibleπŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Hopefully, those Tesla chargers are supporting the Plug & Charge standard that lets different EVs change on various networks without needing separate accounts and apps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15118

πŸ‘€TagbertπŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Simple... tesla's negotiate automatically between car and chargepoint. This doesn't work for non-tesla's, so you need the app to call into a backend system to unlock/activate a charger (and keep track of who needs to pay)
πŸ‘€sigioπŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Because in this case it's 100x faster to start charging via the app, and there are no card readers at Tesla's superchargers anyway - how else would you pay?
πŸ‘€awestrokeπŸ•‘3yπŸ”Ό0πŸ—¨οΈ0